During the lengthy and ongoing hiatus that has frustrated NPR fans for months and months, Russell and Lynnea recently recorded their own stop-gap, “renegade” episode to help mark time until the regular show hosted by Denis, Russell and Matt is able to resume. Which they’re saying may be September. Which would be better interpreted as “wait and see.” But as fans were happy with Russell and Lynnea’s effort, there’s no reason not to keep this up, especially as magical internettical computerifical technological magic makes it so easy.

Tomorrow afternoon, I will be recording yet another of these renegade shows, and it should be available on the NPR site by Friday. (It won’t be a livecast though, so no simultaneous chat.) One of my guest hosts will be my dear friend, the beautiful and snarktacular Gia Grillo, aka PamAnnJett, whom most of you will recall from the post here not long ago, in which she recounted her little saga about walking boldly up to a pair of squeaky clean sidewalk proselytizers and mercilessly emasculating them in front of everybody! Hey, she may be small, but she packs a wallop. Joining us also, from the misty forests of northern California, will be our mutual friend, Chris Conner. Mostly our topic will involve how the Internet has played such a powerful role, both as a resource for atheists and a way to forge a sense of community among us that atheists never had before. The rise in atheism’s profile globally; the popularity of shows like AETV and blogs like Pharyngula; the ability for there even to be such a thing as million-selling atheist books; and finally, the many connections of simple friendships open to us — the Internet has done more for the spread of reason than anything, and we’ll talk about how it’s impacted our lives. The Young, Godless, and Fabulous today live in a much different world than the one that afflicted Madalyn O’Hair’s generation. But in many ways, not much has changed and there’s still so much to be done.

All this and other stuff. Look for the new show to be downloadable by the weekend, gang. I’m very much looking forward to it myself.

Someone notified me this morning that I’ve been misrepresented publicly as making anti-gay statements in a correspondence. In light of that, I am sharing the entire content of the statement I made this morning, in order to show accurately what I said. Fortunately, I shared the content of the messages with several people immediately after having the exchange. So, I actually have people who can vouch, including Jen Peeples who was online this morning, and who also happens to be gay, and a good friend.

The response I received was actually cordial, and I thought all was well (although apparently not):

I called Matt immediately, and he advised that I post this as the one and only response necessary to such obvious slander. I am sure my record speaks for itself, and that punative lies will not be taken seriously by anyone who knows me and/or my views.

Now, bear in mind that the page leads off with a very stern warning about ballot stuffing, although they don’t specify how they interpret that. However, they are asking for all your contact information before submitting the ballot, so it might be for the best if only locals (or at least Texans) vote. I know there’s a lot of you here, so let’s get to votin’.

Just to share another success story–because we rarely share these. We claim we get these letters, but I think it helps for people to see these publicly as well:

Hi. My name is Jeremy and I am a student at the University of Missouri. I would just like to thank you for helping me convert to being an atheist. I have always been confused trying to find the “right” religion to practice and how to worship. I have studied all the monotheistic religions and just never seemed to really get it. However for the past year or two I have discovered shows like yours and have read/watched the new atheists (Hitchens, Dawkins….). For the first time, I can just set back and say that everything now makes more sense. Also, I seem to be at more peace with myself and have a greater understanding and respect for others. I am less hateful and appear to understand others more. I no longer feel the need to discriminate against others for reasons that do not make sense to me (a problem I always had with religion). I understand that this will be the only life I will get and that I should live it the best I can.

I understand that you may have a lot of email for the show so if you do not respond back to me I will understand. However, please show this email to all that work in front of the camera and behind the scenes. I wish for everyone who works at the the show to know that you have made a difference and have helped me (and I am sure many others) become better people just by using reason and a little common sense. Thank you!